Ashutosh Asthana, the Ghaziabad PF scam accused who died on Diwali morning, had urged the jail authorities to shift him to a prison in Delhi as he feared he would be poisoned in Dasna jail.

“I request authorities not to lodge me any of Uttar Pradesh’s prisons. Lock me in any of the prisons in Delhi. I will testify in Delhi. If I am lodged in Dasna prison I fear the people against whom I am testifying would poison my food and get me killed,” Asthana said in a letter written on April 8, a copy of which is with The Indian Express.

Asthana’s former lawyer Jai Singh Bhadoria said the deceased “knew” he would be killed. “He was afraid to even surrender to police. He

surrendered in front of

news channels. He knew otherwise he could get killed,” Bhadoria said.

Asthana had also urged that the CBI or CB-CID should be asked to investigate the scam. “I urged that this case be given to the CBI or CB-CID but not to any investigation agency in Uttar Pradesh. That inquiry, I believe, would bring the truth out. I was just working in the capacity of a clerk in the hands of judiciary,” reads the letter. Asthana also urged that this application should be attached to his case diary prepared by the police.

“I am afraid that if I surrender to district police or surrender before the court, I could get killed on the orders of the influential people I have named in the FIR. My daughter Sakshi Asthana, wife Sushma Asthana and mother-in-law Savitri Asthana could not any get relief due to the influence of the persons I have named in my application. I know my family members have been trapped,” Asthana wrote. Asthana’s letter, however, was never taken seriously by authorities.